Dahlia's story
by Phantomslap
Summary: Dahlia the Lone Wanderer pushes herself the the limit and ends up somewhere unexpected. She finds adventure, friendship and even love. Smoking, drinking, language, violence and smut. Will follow my playthrough including mods. If you read about you're mod, be happy. I'm too lazy to give everyone their credit for said mods. *Femslash* Shepard/Liara OC/other girls
1. Dahlia fresh out

With a loud creaking sound the exterior vault entrance was pushed open for only the third time in nineteen years. Just as the door was fully open, Dahlia had to shield her eye's, seeing the sun for the first time was an overwhelming experience. She couldn't help, but to stand there, trying in vein to blink off the blinding effects. It took a while, but shading her eyes from the sun, had the desired effect. When her eyes finally focused she couldn't help, but be awestruck. The rocks were such a vibrant mixture of reds and browns, they mixed into colors she had never known to exist. The landscape was anything, but the void she had been told of. There were so many new colors. The sky was even more beautiful than she had ever dared to imagine. The fluffiness and color of the white clouds against the pale, but still very vibrant blue, almost made her cry. Her face had started to ache, because her smile was three miles wide. A cacophony of new and interesting sounds also graced her eardrums.

To any less than savory person, Dahlia would at this moment look like something to eat, but she in fact was very ignorant in her bliss. The only thing bringing her back to reality, was: A) the barely audible grunts and B) the memory of nutty old Mr. Ben Harper or (Loony Ben) as Dahlia's peers called him. To be more specific she had remembered Ben's stories of the 'Wasteland Abominations', monsters that had no fear of death or man.

Ben would have my hide if he knew I was top side, Dahlia thought back, remembering the old man; her friend. Dahlia sighed at remembering the pain of loosing him all those years ago. She had few friends and Mr. Harper always made her laugh.

"I just hope the other kid's were wrong. I know you never lied to me Ben." she said aloud, casting a quick smile at the old mans picture in her minds eye.

Dahlia had always had a fascination for death, going so far as to talk to the dead - as if they we're standing right next to her. A habit she had made her own, after she had caught her doctor father doing it one night when he thought Dahlia was asleep. If her father could talk to her mother then so could she. It would sometimes be the only thing to bring her back from the edge when Butch or one of his cronies would push her, a little too far. Amata was the other, but Amata's father hated Dahlia for a reason that still escaped her to this day, so she had to focus on something else when she wasn't around. She had hobbies, like shooting her bb gun, studying her fathers medical books, beating the shit out of Butch and his 'Snakes', sneaking around the vault to learn the latest gossip, trying to get in the other female's pants and drawing. She taught herself to draw when she was very young. Over the years she became so good that her drawings became photo-realistic. She would always have to paint Amata's face for Halloween and other celebrated holidays.

She was soon brought out of her reverie, when her mind focused on where she was and how she got there.

Checking her pipboy Dahlia decided that going south - in the direction of the loud grunting noises - was no good. So naturally North would be better. She started to make her way over the rocks, climbing until she reached a flatter area near the summit. Once again stopping to survey the waste land. There was a concrete platform elevated from the ground by pillars, that caught her eye.

Most likely an elevated road, at least at one time.

It had big gaps in it and make-shift bridges connecting them. Further North were hills and what looked like a creek. The possibility of a creek was an exciting prospect to her, but then she thought surely the make-shift bridges were made by people. Maybe they would be friendly, because technically they were her neighbors.

Fingers crossed... Dahlia thought while unholstering her new 10mm pistol ...lets just hope I live through this.. she let out a breath ..my first contact. Wish me luck Ma... and you too Ben.

She shook her head, as if clearing out the cobwebs. If they mean me harm, may my aim be true. She finished the thought by taking a slow deep breath while finding her center. Amata's smiling face, was the image she conjured.

Knowing better than to go bounding off for the structure, she took her time and made her way to a four by six foot concrete barrier. As she crouched low behind it she noticed the lone figure walking back and fourth across the first incline of the structure. It was connected to the ground and looked as if it was the beginning of a rather wide bridge. It also occurred to Dahlia that she was in fact looking at a female, dressed in a scantily clad leather and steel outfit.

They sure look different above ground. She also noticed she had some sort of eye cover, no doubt protection from the harsh sun. Now or never, she thought.

She put the pistol in her new jacket's inside pocket, as to not scare the woman when she got her attention. Then she slowly stood-up from her hiding place and kept her hands up and visible.

"Hello Ma'am I mean you..."

*BOOM*

The bullet hissed by her head. So close she felt the breeze off of it's wake. It was too fucking close. With no time to think, she acted on pure instinct. Her right hand reached into the jacket and pulled loose the weapon and without thought, squeezed off three rounds, in rapid succession. Two found their mark. The womans face took both rounds and she was dead before her body hit the ground.

The realization that she had already killed five people today with eight shots from this pistol, hit her like a ton of bricks. Soon her body spasmed as she doubled over and for the second time in under two hours emptied the contents of her stomach. She slowly got back to her feet, when she noticed that her hands were shaking, but her right hand still had a death-grip on the pistol. She wanted nothing more than to toss it into the ether and run back to the vault, but she knew that was now, not an option.

"Fuck lady I just wanted some damn directions!" Dahlia yelled at the body that still had a river of blood flowing from the holes she had made. Her eyes were drawn to the blood. The head had fallen to a lower height than the feet and gravity had done the rest. The sand greedily drank the crimson liquid. The blood transfixed her, reminding her of the door she opened earlier in the morning. The maintenance bot Andy had unsuccessfully tried to preform surgery, with disastrous results.

The wizz of the second gun shot - that also flew too close to her head - ripped her out of the trance. Her back to the concrete slab, she waited until the end of the attackers second volley, to steal a peek over and find their numbers and positions.

Two at my two o'clock and one at eleven. She waited for their third volley to end, then she risked a well aimed shot, but they were just out of accurate range. The bullet hit the slab of concrete they were behind. The concrete debris form the bullet impact must have hit one of the aggressors, Dahlia heard a pained cry, followed by some rather creative cuss words.

"You're oh so fucking dead you little piss-ant-bitch. We were gonna do you quick, but now you're gonna suffer." The stranger yelled almost out of control. After the fourth volley, Dahlia noticed the pissed off man running back up the bridge, leaving the other two to keep her busy.

That can't be good. Now or never, chancing another peek, she saw yet another concrete slab with a better firing position. Just as the attackers we're about to unleash another volley, Dahlia ran for the new position. Half way home she saw an opportunity to use her V.A.T.S. device. When she turned it on, it was as if the world stopped moving, she took aim at the closest attackers head and squeezed the trigger twice, then moved onto the next target and pulled the trigger, aiming at his center mass. In an instant Dahlia's aim reset to where her first trigger pulls had been. Three bullets left the pistol in rapid succession. The head of the first bad guy nearly exploded at the impact, Dahlia had pulled the last shot instead of squeezing like she should have, so that round had drifted up, - instead of the center mass she had aimed at - she had placed the bullet into the face of her would-be attacker. She knew she was lucky, but that was stupid luck and she cussed herself a fool.

Too fucking close, but this V.A.T.S. is definitely gonna come in handy, she thought while checking the A.P. meter. It was depleted, but slowly charging. Later for you then. Now to go see where that other guy got off to.

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Dahlia looked at her blistered left hand, then to her right hand. It was covering the seeping bullet wound, she had received from the ambush she stumbled into on the bridge. She was lucky in reality, she had taken on two groups of baddies and lived. She had only received a burnt up hand and a ricochet from a lucky shot. She had killed six men and one woman. She was also able to pillage some armor and small arms for trade. If she ever found a civilized group to trade with, that is. She had wrapped up the armors along with the two rifles, using two of the bad guys belts, she then laced a boot string through the trigger guards of the three pistols as well. She then used the other boot string to tie it all to the bottom of her new flame thrower tank. She then strapped the tank to her back and secured the nozzle, she would have to find more fuel before she could use it, but looking at her hand, it would be a formidable weapon.

The pain in her hand, brought her back to the moment. She pulled a stim pack out of her pocket. The holo disk she took off of Joanas's body fell out of her pocket, when she put the empty syringe back. She slid down against the rocks and cried, while listening to her fathers words. The fact that he kept so much from her and didn't even give a proper good bye, stung her more than she would have figured. She had to find him, if only to call him a hypocrite. Asking and teaching her to be honest, selfless, loyal, then leaving her to deal with the fallout of his leaving. Alone. Nothing would make sense until she tracked him down. She could only hope he really did leave like Amata thought. Something else caught her attention, from the recording. Megaton, a settlement south east from the vault.

Dahlia checked that a round was chambered in her 10mm, then she back tracked toward the grunting noise she heard earlier. As it turns out the wasteland had a sense of humor. The grunting came from a giant, pink, hairless, blob of mole. The only thing it lacked was the star-shaped nose. Said nose still worked with, or without the star, because when it caught her scent it charged. She would rather had not to have been forced to kill it, but the way the creature was bearing down on her, left little doubt to it's intentions. Three shots to the skull and the creature was down.

The trek from the mutant mole to Megaton went smoother than her earlier morning. A friendly robot ushered her inside the town. People and rust as far as the eye could see. People on the ground walking around, people walking on rusty catwalks and people walking around on rusty roofs, of rusty buildings. Before she could get lost in the people and rust a tall dark skinned man approached her.

"Names Lucas Simms, town sheriff." The man said, with practiced efficiency.

"Dahlia Erickson" She answered, pushing her hand into his, with a stern shake.

"I noticed the load of guns and the burner. I would be remiss to let you carry on without a warning. Don't start trouble, and no stealing. If you can follow those rules, we will get along great." He stated, with a stern look etched across his face.

Dahlia smiled and answered, "Not a thief and there is nothing to start, but... I am a killer. If someone else forces my hand, I will not hesitate. Just ask the former owners of these nice firearms."

The sheriff had his doubts, but before he could voice them the tall, curvy, raven headed girl was walking away. He couldn't complain though, watching her ass as she walked away made his morning. Even though she promised not to make any, he knew she was trouble.

It only took ten minutes for trouble to find her. He was standing almost where she left him earlier, when he noticed her whistling and motioning for him to join her at Moriarty's saloon. He hated being summoned, but as sheriff he was used to it.

"Sorry to summon you like that, but I figured you wouldn't want me to kill someone over their words alone." She said with a frown.

"What are you talking about?" He asked, his eyebrows quirked.

"Well a man inside named Burke asked me to insert this.." She held up an small circuit board, "..Into the atomic bomb, so he could blow up Megaton for his boss. Something about the view." She answered, waving her hand in the air.

Simms was beyond pissed. what would have happened if someone else had been in her shoes. Needless to say he was grateful. "I can't thank you enough for telling me this. Let me have that and then point him out and I'll take care of the rest."

"No problem with pointing him out, but can I keep this?" Dalia asked.

"If it can blow the bomb, I can't have it out there." He stated.

"NO! I mean I'll dismantle it. I just want to gut it and use the electronics for another projects." She proclaimed, shrugging her shoulders.

"If you promise to dismantle it, you can keep it. Now lets get the fucker." His voice more stern now.

They entered Moriarty's and she pointed the guy out. The sheriff cofronted him. The man was droning on about his time being wasted and Dahlia wasn't paying much attention until the sheriff turned to leave and Burke tried to draw down on him. The instant his pistol was coming up, Dahlia engaged her V.A.T.S.. Burke's pistol never had a bead on the Sheriff, on the account of him being shot in the head.. A dozen surprised eyes were on Dahlia, as she casually pulled the impressed 10mm from Burke's dead hands. It wasn't so much that she killed a man, but the facts that: she drew after Burke, She was lightening fast and she didn't aim, instead electing to shoot from the hip.

"I want the suit too." Dahlia stated, to nobody in particular.

Moriarty took that as an invitation to speak. "Gob get that suit off him for the little lady, then get that hunk of shite out the back."

Gob came around the bar to do his job. "I'll bring the suit back in a bit. Don't want to strip him of here." The ghoul said.

"No worries, I'll get a drink while I wait." She said, with a smile. Nonchalantly stuffing a pre-war $10 bill in his pocket.

Gob was taken aback, but hid it behind his duties.

Still dumbstruck, the sheriff was at a loss. Not only had the stranger saved Megaton from a mad man, but she just saved his sorry ass.


	2. Pushing on

Will follow my play through  
Includes other peoples mods. I would give each and everyone of them credit, but I'm too lazy to go back and look them up. so live with it.  
I do not own either Fallout of Mass effect and therefore make zero money. Just for fun. I apologize for nothing.

"Thanks for saving my ass 101. I owe ya one." Simms said, getting his wits back. "Let me buy ya a drink Dahlia."

Moriarty minded the bar and poured them both a shot from his non-watered down bottle. He looked to where Burke just died. This Dahlia girl was definitely a wild card. Moriarty not only knew Burke from reputation, but he had seen him calmly cut down two rooms worth of people, in one fell swoop. Moriarty smiled as he poured the vault kid and the sheriff their drinks. Burke's death would see him cash in, if he could get word to Tenpenny.

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Dahlia left the saloon and pulled a camel from her pocket, lighting it up. The sheriff walked by mumbling his thanks again. She figured he would be fine after his shock wore off. She decided to take a short walk, when she noticed a leaking pipe. The clamp had came loose and after a few kicks, she was able to right it. She was tracing the pipes back to their source when she found another leak. It would need to be welded, so she marked it with a white napkin.

She figured that would be plenty of time for Gob and made her way back to Moriarty's. He had her stuff waiting. "Yer all set to go girly." Gob's voice was pure gravel.

"Thanks and I was wondering if you had seen another vault 101 citizen come through? Maybe yesterday, mid day? About 6'2", salt and pepper hair, gray beard and a deep voice, name of James?" She asked more towards Moriarty, who was whispering conspiratorially with the ex-raider.

Jericho shot off and Moriarty answered, "Yeah I know yer dad, James. Met him and you both when you were, but a wee lass. Though the information aint cheap. one hundred caps to be precise." His smile all teeth.

She looked him in the eye and just knew he was a piece of shit. She vowed to herself that she would get her money back and more, from this prick. She handed a small bag that held exactly one hundred caps.

Moriarty went on to tell her that her dad went to Galaxy News Radio station. She had noticed this station on her pipboy , but only static was coming over the her radio. She added the coordinates to the station to her pipboy, but knew that it was situated well beyond enemy lines in the edge of the D.C. ruins.

she decided to look for old man Harpers lost mini vault, that was nestled in the heart of Springvale - which was surprisingly close to the vault.

On her way she remembered to disarm the giant nuke. It took some time, but most of that was spent taking the necessary plating off to get to the guts. By the time she was finished she had amassed quite a bit of viable tech to re-use. Just as she finished up, the sheriff came by and gave her keys to the big house over looking the lantern, saying that she earned her citizenship in the short time she was there. He also broke down and told her he had a brother who ran a secret shop above his house, dealing in custom weapons, but would take her on as a customer, after she proved herself to him.

Dahlia fond the house was in surprisingly good condition, all things considered. She found the robot butler Mr. Wadsworth to be lacking, so she decided to gather parts for later upgrades. After putting her spare weapons away in the appropriate lockers, unloading some of the pre-war cash that she took from Old Ben's, her dads and the overseers stash, she started to make a list of the furniture and specialized equipment she would need to fill her house with. She decided she would need a few Chemical lab set ups, for cooking meds. Computers she could skeletonize to build better systems. A large fire pit, fans and vents for the heat and stuff for smelting. She also decided the layout of the house was wrong. The upstairs was a giant walkway that didn't make good use of space.

On her way out of town she handed a list to the kid who was talking to her, paid him a few caps and told him to deliver it to Moira Brown and that she would drop off the cash later.  
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An hour later she was standing in Springvale with a new pump action shotgun, that she had gotten from Simms brother Sy. One look in his shop and seeing his firearms and her brain went to mush. She barely remembered him saying to use the shotgun on something called Mirelurkes (a gray, crab-like, humanoid).

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Silver pointed her towards the raiders inhabiting the Springvale high school, also giving her the warning of slavers in the town of Paradise Falls, which was farther north. The rest of the town, only yielded a broken sniper rifle (a .308 with a broken stalk and receiver - the trigger and barrel were perfect, the scope was salvageable).

The school wasn't particularly big, but the battles would be close-quarters, more than likely. She stashed most of her equipment in a safe she picked, that was setting in a long forgotten basement of a wrecked house. She cleaned Burke's suppressed 10mm pistol. It was a well used, but taken care of pistol.

Finally she stood in front of the school double-doors preparing for war. The shotgun resting on her back, had one chambered and eight in the tube. The 10 mm had one chambered and thirteen in the clip. As always the razor sharp blade was hanging in it's sheath at her back. She had on the special, under-plated vault suit, with Butches Snake leather. His Toothpick still in the pocket.

She breathed slower, prepared for the inevitability of death once more and finally said fuck it; opening the doors, going in.

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The inside smelled of rotting flesh due to putrefaction of human remains. A large steel cage was over-flowing with the remains of wastelanders, but the immediate area was empty. She was pissed at the needless waste before her, but she compartmentalized it away to focus on the task at hand. Killing raider scum.

There was enough light, after her eyes adjusted, to not use the Piplight, so instead she pulled her blade and rested the gun hand on that wrist. Stepping deliberately, she made her way up the left hall.

The raider lounging lazily in his chair, never saw it coming, when she covered his mouth and slit his throat. His body jerked a little as she lay him down, but that was just his death throws. The next situation would be a little tricky-er.

A female raider patrolled the hall in front of a room Dahlia couldn't see into, while two other raiders were having a heated discussion near her position.

Luckily the sentry ducked into the mystery room. Dahlia took the opportunity presented to stand up and deliver a suppressed bullet behind the ear of each raider. She didn't even need to wait around for their bodies to still, before she was upon the room, realizing it was a sort of sleeping quarters.

The guard was turning to do another sweep when Dahlia put two in her head. After she looted the bodies, she found a couple of new bombs she hadn't previously seen. The heavier one was military made, the same shape as Megatons atom bomb, only tiny in comparison. The other was a homemade mine, housed in a Vault Boy lunch box, triggered with a proximity fuse. Both looked formidable.

The rest of the school flew by in the same way. Sneak, kill, loot and repeat. Even the overgrown and clearly mutated giant ants in the basement, put up little challenge.

Finally finished with work, Dahlia sat in the north end of the school looking up at the starry sky. She was glad to help clear the raiders from the Megaton area, she was glad that she would be a formidable opponent out in the wastes and she was thankful that the wasteland turned out to be anything, but the horror that she was force fed her whole life. yeah in the wastes, life was cheap, but there were decent people out there. The space alone was worth the price she had payed, but the sheer beauty of a sun rise or sunset, was beyond the pale.

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Dahlia felt a tug at her heart, being in Springvale - so close to Amata, yet seemingly an insurmountable distance from her. With a heavy heart the Lone Wanderer kept up the search for the key, that no doubt opened the manhole she found in the ruins of an old-world gas station. After opening a still standing mailbox she found a key. There is no way it could possible be that easy. After reading the note that she found beside it, she realized it was just that easy. How in god's name nobody found this in the hundreds of years before now is just mind boggling.

She walked over to the metal blast door and after making sure the coast was clear, hit the button. After doing a small victory dance, when the key unlocked the manhole cover, she climbed down the ladder.

The first room was somewhat dank, but roomy. She used the key on the next door and was nearly floored upon entering the next room. To her right was a humongous bathing pool (fitted with chairs for several people) and to the right was a human-like statue with an almost untouched pre-war outfit on it. Next to it was a door, but a set of samurai swords further in the room, caught her eye, as well as the fish tank above it. It was empty, but fascinating non the less. She tried the door by the manikin, but there was seemingly no way to open it. She walked up to another door in the room, but it was just a roomy bathroom. The next door opened with a push of the button on the wall next to it. This room was amazing. It was untouched and pristine. There was a workbench, medical station, clean bed, refrigerator, ammo bench, tons of lockers of different sizes, each labeled for weapons and armors, along with ammo boxes labeled for different types. There was a cooking stove and sink, by the fridge. A chemistry set lay on another bench, she also noticed a small radio mounted in the wall above the big bed. Dahlia immediately knew she had found her new home base, because it reminded her of home.

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Dahlia started to take out the weapons she looted from the raiders at the school. Most were in good condition, so she placed them in the appropriate lockers. They included a Chinese made machine gun, a couple of hunting rifles and three 10 mm pistols. The two that needed work were an American made machine gun that looked a lot like it's Chinese counterpart and a 10 mm machine pistol. She also took out the broken sniper rifle pieces she found earlier. Dahlia decided that she would like to make a semi-auto sniper rifle out of the parts. to do this she would have to fit the .308 barrel on the machine gun, modify the receiver to except .308 bullets instead of 5.56 it normally took. She would then have to make a custom mount for the 12x sniper scope, as well as custom ammo clips for the bigger bullets. She was would also have to go back to Megaton and get the broken flamethrower, so she cold turn it into a cutting torch. The mini bunker had electricity, so she also wanted to gather parts to make a welder. Years ago she helped Jonas make one when the vaults regular one broke for the last time. It took about a week to fabricate a new one, but luckily she still had their schematics in her pipboy. She also decided she wanted to make a collapsible stock for the 10mm machine pistol, as well as thread the barrel for her suppressor.

After unloading all but her new shotgun and a couple of stimpacks, she found herself back in the Megaton area. She met a man named Crazy Wolfgang, who fortuitously enough, sold junk of all types. She spent a lot of caps for most of his junk, but luckily enough she still had quite a bit of pre-war money from Ben's stash. The exchange rate for the old money was pretty high at seven caps per dollar (possibly more later, if she traded more and learned to barter better). Wolfgang also told her another caravan would be through later in the day.

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The next few weeks flew by. Dahlia worked on her projects as well as worked for Moira brown on her book. She traveled to Minefield, Super Duper Mart, and a whole bunch of places between. She killed Raiders, Mirelurkes, Molerats, Bloatflies, Giant Ants, Radroaches, Radscorpions and Wild dogs. She blew herself up, allowed herself to become highly irradiated and used new inventions in scary situations (not always working out as expected). Though not all was bad. She made a new friend in a German Shepherd named Dogmeat (according to his collar), gained a few new abilities, like healing when taking extreme amounts of radiation, as well as learning to hunt and avoid many of the wastes mutated animals. All and all it was a productive week. She finished her new toys, the welder worked just a good as the vault one, the torch she made from the flamer worked better than she would have figured (all the parts were there to begin with, it just took some refitting and modifying) and she finished her custom semi-auto sniper rifle, plus suppressed, custom machine gun. Both worked way better than before. The sniper rifle had custom trigger, barrel for maximum accuracy, leather sling and a forward folding bi-pod to steady the rifle on the ground. The machine pistol had a folding stock for better accuracy, under barrel vertical grip, leather sling, as well as a custom suppressor, she made after gutting Burke's old one, to see how it functioned. It was surprisingly simple, a barrel with slanted drilled holes and wrapped in sponges to absorb the explosion and noise of said explosion. She also made a lot of caps and supplies from Moira, as well as looting all the buildings and bodies of anything of value.

Sy was impressed with her new Sniper rifle and Machine gun. He even helped her name them (Finger of Death .308 and Phantom 10mm)and bought the rights to make more, by sponsoring her. This entailed letting her have the first chance at new weapons to try in the field, so she could tell him what worked and what didn't. He also hooked her up with more ammo, for testing the shotgun on the Mirelurkes. She asked him to work on building a suppressor for her shotguns, telling him she wanted one even if she could only use slugs, instead of Buckshot. He agreed to give it a shot.

Dahlia also commissioned Moira to build her some custom armor and dye it in a multi-color camouflage, to better blend into the background. Also asking her to take some burlap sacks she had brought back and make a ghillie suit, that they found a picture of, in an old pre-war book about snipers. Moira made the camouflage out of different shades of gray over black, using the vault riot gear and she made a hood and back cover out of a couple of sacks, then cutting the rest into strips to hang of the cover. She left it the regular brown, stating that it would be the best color to blend into the sand and dirt that covered most of the wastes. The black and gray would blend into the urban area of the D.C. ruins (where she was next headed to). Moira surprised her with a custom made backpack, made of an extra vault suit and leather armor, dyed the same as the armor, with a place for the rolled up ghillie suit.

Dahlia was now set to head to the Galaxy News Radio station, to find her old man. She packed light, filling the backpack with meds, ammo, cigarettes, a bottle of whiskey, a couple bottles of clean water (she found a small water purifier in the dank room of the vault), some small boxes of food and a bag of weed she bought off Sy and papers(turns out he had a green thumb and sold supplies for growing, like U.V. lights, non radiated soil and seeds for a variety of plants - food and recreational alike). She placed the Finger of Death into the clamps on the backpack, placed a cut down and simplified 10mm pistol into her hip holster and slung her Phantom 10mm, so it hung loose under her right armpit, ready to be wielded at the drop of a hat. She said her final good byes and headed toward the Super Duper Mart and Galaxy News Radio.

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Her pipboy map took her to an under ground tunnel that lead to an old series of subway tunnels. She moved slow, because she was encountering new enemies, such as Feral Ghouls, and Super Mutants. She was getting batter at sneaking up on them and dispatching them with a couple of rounds from her Phantom 10mm, or using a combat knife, as to not draw attention. She would also gather their loot and stash it to be retrieved on her way back. It wasn't hard to make it through the tunnels, because there were plenty of open ones, leading in the right direction.

Once back above ground, the map showed she was pretty close. She once again shouldered her machine gun and pulled her sniper rifle, to scan the area. When she was satisfied she moved on, until she saw two Super Mutants come out of nowhere shooting at some unknown foes. Triggering her V.A.T.S. she shot both in the head, with superhuman speed and accuracy. Moving closer to them she found herself staring down the barrel of several funny looking rifles, attached to heavily armored humans, lead by a very good looking blond woman. Knowing she was out gunned, she held her rifle up in a non-threatening way.

"no need for hostilities. I'm just looking to make my way to the radio station." Dahlia stated in a light tone.

"Who are you and where did you get the armor and weapons, they don't look like anything we've ran into before?" The attractive blond asked.

"Custom made all around. The names Dahlia. You're name and what is with you're armor and guns?' Dahlia asked, cocking her head a little, looking at the rifle.

"Well I'm Sara Lyons, leader of the Lyons' Pride, offshoot of the Brotherhood of Steel. This is a Plasma Rifle and this.." She held her hand out and swished it, as to present herself, "...is Power armor, standard issue for the Brotherhood. Also thanks for the assist. We really didn't need it, but thanks just the same." Sara stated, seeming kinda bored. "Oh and the radio station is just up ahead, so follow us."

After heading down an alley and saying hi to a few more people they headed towards an old school building. Dahlia noticed a Supermutant in an upstairs window and one about to exit the first floor door. Once again firing up her V.A.T.S. she put a double tap into each of their heads. Out of A.P. points she and the Pride fought through the rest of the mutants, Dahlia taking point. With the combined effort the made quick work of the rest of the monsters.  
After taking her time to loot some ammo, Dahlia exited the school and walked over to a Brotherhood body. he had a strange looking weapon at his side, with one of the bombs, she found in the other school, back in Springvale. She picked it up and was about to ask Sara about it, when all hell broke loose.

A huge explosion knocked her off her feet and she heard an ungodly roar coming from the blast area. Quickly getting to her feet she looked toward the blast, seeing a huge, hulking form, coming from the fire. The beast seemed to be a Supermutant, but three or four times bigger. It stood at least thirty feet tall and was wielding a fire hydrant attached to metal pipe, even sporting the concrete that once housed it. Shouts of Behemoth and run, filled the air. Sara yelled toward Dahlia to use the Fat Man. Dahlia figured that she meant the strange weapon that she picked up before the explosion. Dahlia engaged V.A.T.S. once again, but the statistics of a successful hit were less than sixty percent at this range. Dahlia fired anyway. The resulting explosion was mammoth. Dahlia fond herself once again on her ass, when the shock wave hit her. The mushroom cloud engulfed the gigantic mutant, but was apparently a little too far off, because the beast found it's feet once again. With Dahlia in it's sights it charged. Dahlia tried not to panic and kept a lamp post between her and the Behemoth, while shooting it with the .308. It was working well, until the Behemoth figured out that it could crush the lamp post. Luckily Dahlia's A.P. points refilled enough for her to put four bullets into the beast's head; momentarily stunning it. Dahlia ran for the covered overhang of the radio station, while the Pride covered her. It took a combination of all their firepower to finally put the monster down for good. Sara once again thanked her for her help, but this time she meant it.

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The next few days went slow. Three Dog, the flamboyant, self proclaimed voice of the wastes, traded information on James, for help in fixing his broadcast signal. This entailed fighting further into D.C., then purging a museum of mutants and finding a pre-war satellite dish, to fix the one at the top of the Washington Monument. After killing a shit load of mutants and another Behemoth (Killed with sniper rounds, grenades pilfered from Super Mutants and a shit-ton of 10mm rounds), she made it back to the radio station. She was then thanked, asked to keep up the fight by taking electrical parts to be put into Enclave Eyebots (which would switch them from the boring Enclave speech to Three Dogs radio station) and finally told that her dad headed to a settlement to the south, called Rivet city. Once it was marked on her map, Dahlia headed back to Megaton to sell her loot and restock.


End file.
